Another day, another grinder

There are a handful of terms that are easily recognizable to anyone familiar with New England cuisine. Here are a few that come to my mind quickly: shots, jimmies, wieners, cabinets, coffee milk, bulkie rolls and stuffies.

Of course, there’s also the grinder.

Once, when I was at school in New York, I asked two friends (one was from Maryland, the other from California) if they felt like getting grinders with me. They both gave me puzzled looks and said “What?” as if I had just asked them to try the newest club drug or made some other nefarious suggestion.

Well, next Saturday New London will be celebrating this quintessentially New England food at Waterfront Park during the “Grinder is King Festival.” By the way, for any Mid-Atlantic folks, southerners or west-coasters who may have stumbled on this blog post, a grinder is often referred to as a hero, submarine, torpedo or hoagie in the other, less civilized parts of the country.

In recognition of the “Grinder is King Festival” I will be eating a grinder from a New London deli or restaurant for lunch each day (with the exception of days off) between now and next Saturday. Send over any suggestions you might have to a.nunes@theday.com and look for my write-ups here.

On a related but completely off topic note, I recently came across a fabulous term used by the British: “blimey.” Blimey-- believed to be an abbreviation of “God, blind me!”-- is used to express surprise or excitement.

It’s my hope to bite into a grinder this week and shout “Blimey, that’s delicious!”